You browse the map laid out in front of you, pondering which move you’re going to make next. You have to be careful not to move your character to the wrong spot or you’ll get attacked. One wrong move and you’re done.
But you’re not playing a video game on a TV screen here. Instead, you’re one of many gathered around a table rolling the dice.
Board games aren’t a thing of the past anymore Regina. One local group is helping this movement. Chewsday Challenge, hosted by Sask Games at the North Albert Street Boston Pizza in Regina, is vibrant with game enthusiasts playing the next big thing in board games.
“We have one large homogenous community,” Matt Robertson said, one of the founders behind the Chewsday Challenge. “Many people will jump up to be the first to welcome somebody new into the fray and make them feel a part of the community.”
Robertson, along with the kitchen manager of North Albert Street BP’s, and Dana Tillusz, owner of Comic Reader’s created the weekly Tuesday evening gathering. Show up, throw on a name tag and away you go joining other gamers at the game of your choosing.
The old school board games like Monopoly don’t pop up very often, but they’re still welcomed. Chewsday Challenge’s are more reserved for newer and more intense games. Here you’ll see games like Kremlin and Tammany Hall, political and historical based games, and Carcassonne League, a medieval game which you create the board as you go. Not your typical games you would have played twenty years ago. Don’t let the names scare you away. There are volunteers around to help you out.
“It's a Tuesday night and we have probably [seen] around 60 people here, that's pretty cool,” Tillusz said referring to March 3rd’s evening. “Some people have never played board games before [and are] just coming out learning it.”
Since the birth of Chewsday Challenge, Robertson and Tillusz average 50 gamers each week, the highest reaching 67. On top of the growing numbers you’ll see various ages from children to seniors, male and female. These nights far exceeded any expectations they had and couldn’t be happier with the way it is growing.
“This has been a hobby years ago that was predominantly male dominated and we wanted to kind of debunk those old stereotypes,” Robertson said. “And we are pretty close to gender parity in attendance.”
Going over two years since starting in October 2012, Robertson has started passing the reins on to other game enthusiasts and dedicated Chewsdayers. Roxanne Stankievech is the new coordinator for the Tuesday nights.
“I started coming to Chewsday Challenge the summer of 2013,” Stankievech said. “Just this last year [Robertson] asked me to help lead and take charge of some stuff.”
“I think the real strength of Chewsday Challenge is it's welcoming for new people and that's what I experienced when I started coming here,” Stankievech said. She is always looking for ways to improve the evening for newbies as well as long time Chewsdayers.
Chewsday Challenge isn’t the only thing run by Sask Games. They also created the 24 Hours to Play with Your Food event. “The idea behind it is to get people together to play board games for 24 hours to raise money for Souls Harbour Rescue Mission here in Regina,” Robertson said.
The first one in 2013 raised about $14,000. The most recent in October saw around $26,000. Everyone was shocked but overwhelmed with the support from the gaming community with the money they raised.
Murray Bennett is the new coordinator for the Play with Your Food event and expects to exceed the $20,000 goal for this October. “We're a long way away and we're already at 20 per cent so that tells me people thought it was great.”
“That $26,000 is enough to put two women and their families through addictions clinic for a full year, so that’s pretty substantial contribution to them,” Bennett said. “Everybody had a great time and Soul’s Harbour feedback was huge.”
In preparation for the main event, teams of two to six people are asked to fundraise on their own. Usually the goal is for each team to raise a couple hundred dollars, but as Bennett has noticed, the gaming community is generous and usually exceeds those goals.
“I’m going to say the most heartwarming thing for me is the community that is built up around the hobby,” Robertson said. Everyone is friendly and chatty to help welcome you to the gamer world.